CJ Yekavalov

You have a great European style city, but I think it lacks the defining characteristics of a Russian city. I watch Russian car crash compilations all the time and their streetscapes are very tree lined with either really tall or squat buildings. Yes, the core of their cities are just like any other European city but once you are out of the core, communism is very visable.... 'common-blocks' are a defining characteristic of Russian cities that cannot be left out. Just like you couldn't really design an American city without a visable downtown and suburban sprawl. You also need many large, very large avenues and infrastructure. Again, its a beautiful city, I keep looking over the pictures. I just feel the "russian" aspects needs a bit more detail. Great job though, honestly. I, myself, can make Canadian/American/Australian cities really good but struggle with European design.

 

Looking forward to it! I have always had an interest in Russia. I am GIS technician so I have been looking at maps my whole entire life too. LOL. Haven't seen anyone bust out with a Russian style city yet. They use the Moscow and St. Petes map but not the infrastructure. Now, if I could figure out which of my mods are screwing over my citiesXL I could actually get a city journal going.

 

Okay, now for my 4 star rating:
I like your city a lots! As Kurtis Edwards already pointed out,
there are missing some typically Russian elements like the standard commie blocks,
one thing beneath others...
But as you already said, the city is still in progress, so this is not the reason why I give
you only 4 stars...

Starting with the plaza you show, I must say, it looks terrific, very good execution,
but it was rather easy to construct this plaza, given that you used small pedestrian paths
(1m, 2m, 3m). The decorating hedges but look very neat, give a nice add-on...

The Red Square looks beautiful, plain, but still beautiful, and the Kremlin-like
complex was done in a excellent way!

Going over to the large roundabout, I must say that I really like that structure,
and would want to see a streetview image of that area!

The building on the next image shall resemble one of the Seven Sisters Buildings
that one can find in Moscow? If so, you did a very good job!!!
With no doubt it must have been a pain in the ass to plan and execute that complex!

Same holds for the little half-round building complex in the following photos!

Also like your not so dense industry area, you vary the buildings a lot, very good!
I'd only have wished for a bit more different plazas,though!

One thing I find a bit strange are the trees in the harbour area with the military ship aside,
does not look realistic...

I like that you cared about the Urban Walls as noise barriers, very good!

And the countryside of your city looks fascinating, better than mine!

I also like how you go along with RHM and no-collision mods!
The point is that I expect such things to be in any city, so they should be normal,
in my humble opinion!
For your plazas, I'd suggest you to use more placeholders like small collision-box statues
of the UEPs by Monty and then put flowers or trees in there...
Then I would have preferred if you had stayed to one type of building in some areas,
rather than mixing them all up. I can see some chateau or castle together with some commie
block buildings by pauliaxz, that is irritating, and I dislike it...
just to give one example...
Then, at some points in your city, I'd have wished to have more decoration for a certain object,
e.g. for the citadel of the Latin Pack close to the sea, you could have exposed it more
and cared a bit more for the decorative elements around...
Also, you rarely show some recreational parks, you either have French Garden-like structures
or just forest, but your city's inhabitants need also parks for recreation, with more grass area,
some deco like playfields or so, too...
I know that your city is still in progress, so I expect this with the next update
In general, these critical points are more minor points, nothing much to worry about,
improve a bit and I'll give you 5 stars within the next updates

 

Hey, man! 5 stars for you! The plazas and the cornered buildings are fantastic!
Could you advise where can we get the heavy crane within the railway station(The one next to that old man, not from the harbor pack)? Is it plopable?

 

Hey, dumb question but how do I rate a city? I'm clearly overlooking something. I agree, those gardens are spectacular. I want to recant, I think there is more Russian detail than I originally thought.

 

Hmmh, that old muslim town does not look like a muslim town at all,
and it does not even look old. Go for example for Kazan, which is considered the
Islamic Center of Russia, and look for the more muslim parts of the city.
You will notice that it does not really differ from the other parts,
except that it has mosques instead of churches.
And one thing, the Russian Metros are always underground.

 

I acknowledge your findings, but it still appears strange to me. The Quarter
looks like somebody threw together all kinds of buildings that you can find for CXL
and declared the result to be a muslim part of the town, no offense, though.
Especially these buildings by aitortilla01 look out of place...
And looking for the same in Kazan, it really has no differences with a typical Russian City, hmmh.
I find this strange but also interesting. Maybe we can find a common base for what buildings
people could use to resemble a such an Islamic Quarter. And after looking up the images of Orenburg,
I have become even more confused...
I agree that the Japanese Buildings are mandatory, and so are the Russian ones by PaulJChris.
No-collision is always good, too. But some of the in-game buildings look partially out of place, too.
Maybe an somehow older mosque was good to have, too? You said that the muslim town existed before the
conquest of Yekavalov, so was the old mosque destroyed, then?

 

So amazing! Love how you combined the buildings to complex structures and how you integrated the railway net! Looks quite russian, btw! Even the outskirts and the nature parts became quite authentic and look vivid. This city is definitely worth a trip!

 

I really like this Russian feeling of your city! In my opinion there are some types of buildings at don't fit into a Russian city but in general i love it! Keep it up mate

 

You have sunk allot of effort into this and I enjoyed seeing the talent you have displayed in your CJ and can't wait for an update.